Chesapeake Vs New England Colonies Essay

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The reasons for which Chesapeake was founded was much more economical in purpose. The Chesapeake region included both East and West New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia. While New England was established on the idea of religious refuge, Chesapeake Bay was founded on the idea of making a profit. The Virginia Company of London was the first joint-stock company to travel to America. After learning stories of prosperity that the Spanish found in South America the Virginia Company investors thought it would be easy to find gold if they started a new settlement also. In 1607, 144 English boys and men settled the Jamestown colony, named after King James I. The first Virginians landed thirteen years ahead of the Pilgrims landing in Massachusetts. …show more content…

The effects of geography and climate had an immensely opposite reaction. New England was much rockier and had many more hills in comparison to the Chesapeake region with its flat tidal areas and rich fertile soil. This affected the economic formation for both regions. One of the more defining features of the southern Chesapeake colonies was its warm climate in comparison to the cold climate in the New England colonies. This Warm Climate allowed for a longer growing season which led the Chesapeake economy to become more agriculturally dependent. It also granted diseases such as typhoid, dysentery, and malaria to run ramped. Half the people born in early Virginia and Maryland did not live to be older than twenty years old. But while Chesapeake was dealing with a harsh climate, New England reaped the benefits of cooler temperatures and cleaner water that prevented the spread of fatal diseases. In New England, however, the soil was rockier and the growing season was much shorter, so while settlers did have farms, they did not produce on the level of the large southern plantations. The economy in the north was more diversified. Coastal areas and rivers allowed shipping and fishing industries to flourish, while abundant forests helped develop the timber trade. Trappers and hunters searched for furs and game that moved into the wildlife-rich areas of New

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